A TARDIS In New York City
by tinyrose65
Summary: All Jack, Rose, and the Doctor wanted was a nice trip to New York. Of course, they just had land smack-dab in the middle of an alien invasion, didn't they? And what's with all the people in funny costumes? (Doctor/Rose, Jack)
1. Chapter 1

**Title **A TARDIS In New York City

**Author **tinyrose65

**Summary **All Jack, Rose, and the Doctor wanted was a nice trip to New York. Of course, they jus _had_ land smack-dab in the middle of an alien invasion, didn't they?. And what's with all the people in funny costumes? (Doctor/Rose, Jack)

**Note **So this will be a short story- 3 chapters and about 20 pages total on my Word document. I just wrote it for kicks and I'll be posting a chapter a week. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer **I don't own Doctor Who or the Avengers.

* * *

Rose woke up that morning excited for a new day and eager for something to do. She, the Doctor, and Jack had just left Cardiff and, after her confrontation with Mickey, she needed something to distract her. _Anything. _Thankfully, the Doctor almost always had something up his sleeve and he had no doubt picked up on her mood.

He and Jack were becoming increasingly good at that.

Rose's suspicions were confirmed when she opened up the wardrobe in her room to find that the TARDIS had already chosen an outfit for her: nothing other-worldly, though. Just simple, practical comfortable clothes that somehow still managed to be stylish. Her grin widened. The TARDIS knew her too well and no doubt she was in on whatever plans the Doctor had.

Changed and ready, Rose headed to the console room, but found it empty. She used her nose and followed the scent of breakfast to the kitchen. Sure enough, she found Jack and the Doctor already there, having coffee and tea respectively. They had already taken the liberty of setting out tea and toast for her.

"Ta," she said cheerfully as she plopped down into the chair and took a long swig of her tea. If there were any parts of her that hadn't woken up yet, they were awake now.

"You're up this morning," Jack said, trying to delicately tell her that she was in no way, shape, or form a morning person. Usually he and the Doctor had to drag her out of bed with the promise of something amazing to see.

"I just want to get goin'," Rose said through a mouthful of toast. She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "What've you got planned, then?"

He tried to look innocent. "What makes you think I've got something planned?"

"The TARDIS picked out my clothes this mornin'," Rose said smartly. Jack eyed her up and down: the white v-neck t-shirt, army green jacket, worn jeans that hugged her in all the right places, and boots. He gave her a dirty grin.

"And she certainly did a good job," he said easily. Rose rolled her eyes good naturedly, but blushed all the same. She'd never have to worry about having self-confidence issues with him around, she decided.

"Humans," the Doctor grumbled. "Barely breakfast and you're already havin' a flirt."

"I could flirt with you, too, Doctor," Jack told him eagerly. "Would that make you feel any better?"

"Not really. No." The Doctor took a final swig of his tea. "If you're both done, we can get goin'."

"I knew we were going somewhere special!" Rose said gleefully. She shoved the rest of her toast in her mouth (_"Charming," the Doctor drawled) _and wiped the crumbs away. The Doctor lead the way to the console room and began to tinker with the controls.

"So?" she said eagerly. "Where we goin'?"

"New York!" he said proudly. "In the 28th century, mind you. Thought we could use a nice breather."

"What's so special about the 28th century?" Jack couldn't help but ask curiously. The Doctor got a manic grin on his face, the one that Rose had come to love.

"Let's find out!" He pulled a lever and Rose and Jack were thrown to ground as the ship jerked. Rose didn't bother trying to get up. It was much safer down here, anyway. Instead, she watched amusedly as Jack struggled to climb to his feet, only to be sent flying backwards again.

She giggled and somehow Jack managed to hear her over the roar of the TARDIS. He shot an annoyed glare her way, which she promptly ignored in favor of wrapping her arm around the base of one of the coral struts for support. Of course, the moment she finally found a semi-comfortable and semi-safe position, the TARDIS stilled.

"Here we are, then," the Doctor announced, straightening his jacket and then going over to help Rose up. She brushed herself off, relieved to see that she hadn't gotten hurt at all during that flight. She was getting better at this!

Jack on the other hand-

Rose giggled again as he staggered upright, looking as though he had been stomped on by a stampede of wild buffalo. He looked at one of the screens in the console room to quickly fix his hair, then fixed his clothes, and then grinned at them.

"Ready when you are!"

It was Rose who had the honor of opening the TARDIS doors this time. She had never been to New York, after all, and the one time she had been to America, a Dalek had tried to kill her. She stepped outside and couldn't help but frown. They had ended up in a dimly lit alleyway, surrounded by buildings on all three sides, leaving a space barely big enough for the TARDIS to land in. A large rat (Rose almost mistook it for a dog, in the dim light) skittered out of the way and a pigeon watched them blearily from its perch on a dumpster. From what Rose could see, this place didn't look very futuristic.

"This looks like the New York I see on the telly and stuff," she said, confused. Surely it would've changed in several hundred years. Maybe had some sort of fancy trash-system, instead of a smelly dump in an alley.

The Doctor looked baffled himself as he stepped outside and scowled at the dumpster next to him. Jack pulled out his vortex manipulator (it couldn't take him anywhere anymore, thanks to the Doctor, but it was still dead useful for scanning things) and the Doctor examined readings on the sonic screwdriver.

"21st century," he sighed. "I don't understand! I entered the coordinates perfectly!"

"Well clearly you didn't," Jack argued, looking up from his wrist, "Or else we wouldn't be here right now."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Oi! It's not my fault when the TARDIS decides not to listen to me! She's stubborn, the old girl is."

Rose, deciding to leave them bickering about whether it was the Doctor's horrible driving or the TARDIS's stubbornness that got them into this mess, walked outside the alley, expecting to see New York in all its 21st century glory.

What she saw instead-

"Doctor! Jack!" she yelled, eyes wide. Something in her voice must have told them that whatever it was was serious, because they stopped arguing immediately and rushed to her side.

"Hell's bells and buckets of blood," Jack muttered. Rose agreed with the sentiment entirely.

New York (or at least this part of it) was completely destroyed. Buildings were on fire, sidewalks cracked, and off in the distance she could see the chaos of a panicked crowd and overwhelmed police force.

Oh, and the aliens.

They were dressed in metallic body suits, flying around on small hover-craft like things that reminded Rose of the flying bikes that the Doctor had taken her to see on Droxy-279. They had weapons and were hostile (that much was obvious by the way they kept blowing up buildings).

There were also the _big _aliens: large, metal, fish like things that swam almost leisurely through the sky.

"Do you recognize the species?" Rose asked, keeping her voice as calm as possible. She was with the Doctor and Jack, after all, the two people she trusted more than anybody else in the world, and the three of them did this sort of thing at least four times a week.

"Can't be sure unless I get a closer look, but I'd guess the Chitauri," the Doctor said, as the three of them moved back a bit in the alley when an explosion hit a bit too close for comfort. Rose didn't bother asking why they hadn't done anything yet. She could tell the Doctor was still formulating some sort of plan.

"What the _hell_ are they doing here?" Jack asked wildly as the Doctor pulled open a backdoor to one of the buildings in the alley.

The three darted inside and the Doctor soniced the door shut. They would be safer here. The building itself looked like a restaurant and the three found themselves in an abandoned kitchen. No doubt everybody else had high-tailed it when the monsters showed up.

"You've heard of 'em, too?" Rose demanded, feeling a bit out of the loop. She had never seen aliens like that before in her life.

"They're reptilian humanoids," Jack rattled off, trying remember what he had learnt about them at the Time-Agency. Most agents got just a general rundown of alien species. More particular information was given on a mission-by-mission basis.

"Advanced technology. A neural-link to their mother ship. Rumor has it they're shape-shifters, too, but it's hard to tell for certain."

"They also consider themselves to be the immune system of the universe," the Doctor added as they headed from the kitchen to the front of the restaurant. The Doctor shut all of the blinds, made sure the windows and doors were secure, and then turned to face his companions. "Wiping out disorder and chaos where they see fit."

"Like Reapers?" Rose asked, watching one of the massive fish-things swim right by as she peaked through one of the windows.

"If you like," the Doctor said, "But they aren't time sensitive. Mostly they use that whole "immune system" lark as an excuse to take over any planet whose tech they think is worth something to 'em."

"Then why Earth?" Rose asked. She watched as one of the Chitauri flew by in his hovercraft-like skimmer. "They definitely seem way more advanced than us."

"No idea," the Doctor said. "We can figure that bit out later. For now, we need to stop 'em from destroying the rest of Manhattan."

"Any ideas?" Jack asked. The Doctor didn't say anything, still watching, looking for any sort of weakness-

It was pure luck that Rose happened to see it, really. She was just following the path that one of the aliens was taking.

The TARDIS apparently _had _known what she was doing this morning. She had landed them almost directly under what looked like a _massive hole in the sky, _covering several blocks, from the looks of was from there that all of the aliens were coming. A bright blue beam shone from the top of a building a few streets away, looking as though it were tearing apart the fabric of the Universe itself.

Rose tugged on the Doctor's jacket and pointed. "What's that thing?"

"Looks to be a portal of some kind," the Doctor said briskly, already in saving-the-world mode. Jack was loading up his blaster. "Before we deal with the aliens we've got here, we need to shut it down, or else they'll just keep coming."

Jack clicked a few buttons on his vortex manipulator. A 3D model of the city popped up, and Jack flicked his fingers to turn it. It showed the building they were at. "Here we are."

"The portal seems to be originating from here," the Doctor said, reaching up to move the model. It zoomed in on a tall building a few blocks away.

"I don't believe it!" Jack said, looking oddly like a kid in a candy-store. "The portal is originating from _Stark Tower!"_

The Doctor looked at him blankly and Rose wrinkled her nose. "Isn't he some sorta billionaire inventor?"

"He's _Ironman!" _Jack said, as though Rose should be publicly shamed for not knowing, never mind that traveling with the Doctor meant she was hardly up to date on news from her time. She could much more easily tell you the history of Raxicoricofallapatorius than what was goin' on in her time period.

The Doctor seemed to recognize the name and he looked mildly impressed. "O' course! It'd be around this time the Avengers Initiative started back up, then. 2012, again, Rose."

"Who's Ironman and what's the Avengers Initiative?" Rose interrupted. Honestly. She loved having Jack on board the TARDIS, but sometimes it got a bit annoying when they started talking about tech or aliens or whatever and she was stuck trying to play catch-up.

Thankfully, they were always more than happy to explain.

"The Avengers Initiative is a perfect example of you humans adapting to life's funny little curveballs, Rose!" The Doctor said. "Started out as a government project by this group called S.H.I.E.L.D: gather up all the humans on the planet with special quirks and abilities- super-strength, intelligence, and so on- and pack 'em into one, big, monster fighting team!"

"Of course," Jack added, "Story goes that they weren't too happy about some of the things S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing behind the scenes, so they broke free and formed the Avengers: Ironman- who happens to that billionaire you mentioned, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, the Black-Widow, and Hawkeye!"

"So what you're saying is that we've landed in one of Mickey's comic-books?" Rose said dumbly, not really sure how to process the information.

"The Time Agency started out as a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D., didn't it?" The Doctor mused, not bothering to dignify Rose's question with an answer.

Jack nodded eagerly, a massive grin on his face. "I grew up hearing stories about the Avengers! Oh, ho! This is _brilliant! _ Do you think I'll get to meet them?"

"Maybe _after _we've saved the world, lad," the Doctor grinned, flicking the hologram of the city that Rose had almost completely forgotten about. The Doctor however, had been thinking the whole time, and he outlined the best possible path to the tower.

"Good coverage," Jack agreed, retracing the route on the screen, just to be sure he knew it well enough.

"Stay out of sight?" Rose guessed

"And out of the range of any blasters," Jack confirmed.

"Right then," Rose said, taking a deep breath.

"On your mark, Doctor," Jack said, firmly, blaster in hand.

"Fantastic!" he beamed. Then he took Rose's hand and the three of them ran out into the streets. They had been somewhat protected in the alley and the noise had been muffled, too. Now, though, they were completely exposed and Rose knew it was only a matter of time before the Chitauri saw them.

The Doctor, of course, knew exactly where they were going and, like Jack had said, used a combination of buildings and back streets and alleys to keep them out of sight. Eventually, though, they reached a point where they would have no choice but run into the open.

The Doctor glanced around the corner at the entrance to Stark Tower and then turned behind him to Rose and Jack, who were pressed tightly to the wall of the shop they were hiding behind. "It's a straight shot from here to the Tower, alright?"

"Alright," Rose agreed breathlessly. Jack, who was behind her, looked down at her.

"How're you holding up?"

"Alright," Rose said again. The Doctor frowned.

"We can always get you back to the TARDIS, if you want. No need for you to be putting yourself in harm's way if you don't want to be."

Rose laughed. "Are you kiddin'? I live for this! Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

The Doctor smiled at her then, a smile touched with genuine joy and affection and something else that Rose would never name for fear of ruining everything. She could return the smile, though, and she did, and Jack looked between the two of them and wondered if they realized how lucky they were. It wasn't often that you found love like the one those two had.

All he had to do now was get them in a closet together. Or maybe a bed. Either one would work.

First, though...

"You two go on without me," he instructed. Rose and the Doctor broke their little staring contest to gape at him.

"What're you talking about, Jack?" Rose gasped. He grinned at her, genuinely touched by her concern. He had no idea what he'd done to deserve friends like this, but he had been taught never to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"There're civilians out there," Jack gestured to some of the buildings near them. "I can't just leave them to fend for themselves."

"Good man," the Doctor said proudly. "Alright, then. You work on protecting the civilians. Me and Rose will figure out a way to close that portal."

Rose wondered what use she'd be to the Doctor, but didn't question it. If he wanted her there, he had a good reason, she was sure of it. So she gave Jack a kiss on the cheek for good luck.

"You missed," he joked, pouting theatrically, telling Rose exactly where he wanted Rose to kiss him next time. Rose smiled.

"Come back in one piece and I'll see what I can do to fix that," she ordered. Jack saluted, promising her without words that he'd do the best he could to stay safe, and then he darted off to one of the office buildings.

"Let's go save the world, then," the Doctor told her.

"Again," Rose added, taking his offered hand.

Then, they ran.

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**AN: Enjoy! The next chapter will be up next week.**

**tinyrose65**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Never Flirt With Your Heroes**

Jack wouldn't lie: he always enjoyed this bit, the saving the world thing, being the hero. It was a massive change from when before he met the Doctor and Rose. Before them, in a situation like this, he would have cut his losses and run.

Now, though, he ducked through the hoard of Chitauri warriors towards the edge of the perimeter the police had set up, guiding a group of about half a dozen civilians to safety. They cleared the perimeter and the injured were taken immediately to the paramedics. Jack felt a bit bad for them: they looked incredibly frazzled and it was clear that all of New York had no idea what to make of the invasion.

At least London, at this point, had some prior experience with this sort of thing.

Jack, ready to head back out into the fray, could see a woman pleading with an officer and as he got closer, he was able to hear what she was saying.

"My son! My son is back there! I need to find him!"

The police officer was trying to calm her down. He spoke through a heavy Brooklyn accent, "I'm sorry, Miss. There's nothing I can do."

"Where did you last see him," Jack demanded, stepping up to the two of them. Jack flashed the officer his I.D., grateful that the Doctor hadn't nicked his psychic paper when he confiscated most of his blasters. "Captain Jack Harkness."

The cop left, happy to leave the hysterical woman to somebody else and Jack tried not to be too annoyed. That man must've had a lot to deal with today already.

Jack placed his hands on the woman's shoulders to calm her down a bit and repeated, "Your son. Where did you last see him? What does he look like?"

"His name is Tim," the woman blubbered, trying to take deep breaths. "He's five and has blonde hair and blue eyes! We were grocery shopping when he wandered off- probably to look for candy- and this happened-"

Jack calmed her down again and managed to get a brief description and set of directions to the shop where she had last seen her son.

"I promise I'll do the best I can to find him," Jack assured her.

Then, because he was Jack, he planted a quick kiss to her lips. She wasn't wearing a wedding ring, and Jack had learned a long time ago that a kiss was as effective as a slap when trying to get somebody to stop hyperventilating.

He ran off before she knew what hit her.

Running was something else that Jack really loved. He had done a lot of it before the Doctor and Rose, but back then he was usually running away from something: the Time Agency, authorities, trouble, responsibility. Now, he still found himself running from authority, but he chased trouble like it was his lifeline and responsibility didn't scare him so much anymore-

-Like this whole mission, saving a boy from aliens-

Aliens that had currently managed to surrounded him. Huh. He needed to stop getting so distracted.

Jack loaded up his blaster, but he was clearly outnumbered. He decided to try a different tactic and gave them his most disarming smile.

"Hello, boys," he began, then paused and scanned the aliens. Right. "And girls. Or hermaphrodites. I'm not picky. Whad'ya say we put down our blasters and have a bit of fun, instead? How's that sound?"

The aliens didn't say anything. One of them cocked its head, looking contemplative, and Jack congratulated himself on his slight victory.

Before he could try to convince the others that his plan was _much better _than theirs, a red, white, and blue blur stormed into the fray and everything went a bit pear shaped. Jack reacted instinctively, shooting at any Chitauri within range. Between them both, the group was dead within minutes, and Jack was left standing next to a pile of aliens with-

_Captain America._

Jack couldn't have stopped his ecstatic grin if he wanted to. Which he didn't. He most certainly _didn't._

"Thanks for that," Jack said, cheerfully, sounding like he was anywhere _but _a Chitauri invasion. Captain America -_what was his real name? Something Rogers- _gave him a slightly worried look, as though he had good reason to believe that Jack was insane.

Hey, maybe he was.

"This is no place for civilians," he said harshly. Any elation Jack felt was quickly replaced with chagrin.

"Does this-" Jack waved around his blaster- "look like a civilian weapon to you?"

Rogers had the good grace to look slightly apologetic as he acknowledged that the weapon was far too technologically advanced to be something issued to a standard civilian.

Jack continued. "My name is Captain Jack Harkness and trust me, please, when I say I'm on your side." He paused for a minute, eyeing the superhero's tight suit. "And I could be in your bed, later on, if you'd like."

Rogers didn't seem all that impressed. He actually looked a bit embarrassed and maybe a bit confused. "I'm going to have to ask you to evacuate the area, sir. We've set up a perimeter and it needs to be enforced."

Jack was definitely annoyed now. He supposed never meet (or in his case, flirt with) your heros.

"Right: shut up and listen. We're in the middle of a Chitauri invasion and perimeter or not, there are still civilians stuck in these buildings. As we speak, a little boy is stuck in a shop and I'm not goin' anywhere until I get him back to his mother safely, just like I promised."

Rogers looked reluctant, but he could hardly argue against saving the life of a little boy. He sighed, resigned, then nodded resolutely. "What'd you say your name was?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service!" Jack leered. "_Whatever _that service may be. I'm very adaptable."

The other Captain ignored him again. "And the little boy? Where is he?"

Jack grinned again, annoyance gone, and led the way, all the while trying to his inner, child-like glee at the situation. _I'm fighting crime with Captain America! I wonder if he'll sign my Captain America lunchbox..._

Jack paused in front of what looked like a small grocery shop. At least, that's what Jack assumed it had been before it was completely destroyed. The framework of the building was still intact, but the windows were shattered, the interior destroyed, and the roof (or the floor of the apartment above it) had collapsed in on itself.

Jack and Rogers exchanged glances, knowing that it was unlikely that anything could survive that wreck, then carefully ventured inside.

"Hello?" Jack called, trying to make his voice sound as non-threatening as possible. "Anybody home?"

There was no noise, just silence, punctuated by occasional noise outside.

Rogers shook his head, clearly thinking the mission useless. "This is pointless, Captain Harkness. There's nobody here."

Jack tutted. "First off, Jack please. I like to be on a first name basis with the people I'm saving the world with." Jack pressed a button on his vortex manipulator and a blue beam of light shot out from it, slowly scanning the rubble for any signs of life.

"Second, I wouldn't count that little boy out just yet," he muttered.

"What is that?" Rogers demanded. Jack didn't take his eyes off of the small screen on his wrist.

"It's a Vortex Manipulator-" Jack paused, then amended his statement. "At least it was. It's broken, now."

"Doesn't look broken."

"Broken as in 'doesn't do what it's supposed to.' But I've got a friend who's good with tech- and I'm not so bad with my hands, myself- and so we modified it a bit. It's a pretty useful piece of equipment."

"It certainly is," Rogers said, looking at Jack curiously. Jack gave a grin of triumph when a blip of life was detected in a corner. Jack ran for it and Rogers followed, not really sure what else to do at this point.

"Start digging under the rubble," Jack ordered, once he saw that there wasn't anybody- least of all little boys- in sight. Rogers huffed, clearly annoyed at having to take orders from a man who only _said _he was a Captain, but his soldier's training kicked in and he did as told. They were quiet as they worked, ignoring the chaos outside, focusing only on the matter at hand.

It was Rogers who found him. "Harkness," he said curtly, pulling plywood off the body off the unconscious boy's body. Jack rushed over.

"Jack," he corrected, kneeling down to check Tim's pulse.

"Don't push it," Rogers warned.

Jack bit down his comment and instead picked up the little boy carefully, after checking that he had no broken bones. He was a bit banged up and his shoulder was definitely dislocated, but he was otherwise unharmed.

"His shoulder's dislocated," Jack said, "That, plus minor blood loss and dehydration, not to mention pure fear, probably caused him to pass out. We need to get him to paramedics, and soon."

"I can get him there faster than you can," Rogers said immediately.

"You also have a bigger target on your back," Jack retorted. The two men stared each down before Captain America broke the silence.

"Together then?"

"Captain," Jack said, "I've been waiting for you to say that all day!"

Rogers had apparently resigned himself to the fact that Jack was going to spend most of his time flirting, because he didn't even bother arguing. Instead, he said, "I'll cover you."

Jack couldn't help himself, "So you like it on top, then?"

"_Harkness," _Rogers warned. "Let's _go."_

The Captain prepared his shield. Holding the boy tightly against his chest, doing his best not to jostle his injuries too much, Jack followed the Captain out the door and into battle.

Jack couldn't deny that it was quite annoying to let Rogers have all the fun. He could hardly use his blaster while carrying a little boy, so he had to rely on Rogers to take care of any Chitauri who came their way.

Jack ducked as the Captain lost track of where he was flinging one of the Chitauri and it almost took his head. He glared," Watch it! I've got a kid here!"

"Sorry!" Rogers shot back, knocking another Chitauri over the head as they continued to head for the edge of the perimeter.

There were more Chitauri coming, now, that they had been noticed. Jack had no choice but to pull out his blaster, shifting Tim so he could hold him with only one hand.

Jack easily hit the Chitauri coming up behind Rogers. Rogers raised an eyebrow. "Nice shot."

"Yea, well, I'm not just a pretty face."

Rogers turned to retort, but instead his face twisted in alarm and he exclaimed, "Watch out!"

Jack turned rapidly, blaster up, but before he could fully register that an alien was launching itself off of its hovercraft towards him, a bright green shape came flying to meet him, the two of them landing several feet away, skidding on the concrete, leaving a large hole where they landed.

_The Hulk! _Jack smiled like a fanboy. _This day can't get any better!_

His suspicions were reaffirmed a few minutes later when Tim's mom was finally reunited with her son. She rewarded him with another kiss.

_Best. Day. Ever._

* * *

**AN: Chapter 2 and good ol' Captain Jack. In my mind, he is such a fan-boy! Hope you enjoy.**

**tinyrose65**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Trust Me, I'm A Doctor**

The Doctor and Rose finally made it to the top of the building. The elevator was out, so they had to climb the stairs, and by the time they reached the penthouse, Rose was panting heavily. The Doctor, on the other hand, looked perfectly fine.

The first thing Rose noticed when she entered Stark's penthouse was that it was _nice, _even when completely destroyed. The second thing she noticed was that the portal-light thing was coming from outside and the Doctor was already on his way toward it. The third thing she noticed was that there was an oddly dressed man lying on the ground, unconscious.

Out of habit (really, with the Doctor, this sort of thing was par for the course), Rose rushed directly towards him and checked for a pulse. He was still alive, but badly beaten up. "Doctor, what's wrong with him?"

The Doctor peered closer and then shook his head. "Nothin' we can do for him now, Rose. C'mon."

Rose reluctantly got up and took the Doctor's hand as he lead her outside. "Why was he wearing those clothes."

"It looks like he's from Asguard," the Doctor said.

The name tickled something in Rose's memory. "Isn't that a Norse thing?"

"Somethin' like that," he muttered, but his eyes had gone wide at the sight of the portal. It was even more massive up close, and now the Doctor had a good view of the device that was keeping it open.

To Rose's surprise, there was already somebody there: a woman (red-head) dressed in all black, looking at the device with an incredibly frustrated expression, she approached it slowly and reached a hand out, only to jerk it back when some sort of shield surrounding the device shocked her.

"Oi! Don't do that!" The Doctor reprimanded, walking around to where the woman was. When they made it to the other side of the device, Rose noticed _another _man lying unconscious on the ground. This time, he was older and dressed more normally.

Running to him, Rose muttered, "It's like a bleedin' epidemic!" Rose checked for a pulse, again. He seemed okay, save for a massive bruise on his head.

The Doctor, on the other hand, found himself on the bad end of a gun. The red-haired woman didn't seem to pleased with his advice.

"Who're you?" she demanded.

"I'm the Doctor," he said, watching Rose out of the corner of his eye and the device out of the corner of the other. "I'm here to help."

"I don't believe you," she said firmly.

"Doctor, he's waking up," Rose called over, helping the older-looking man sit up. He held his head. The woman pulled out another gun and pointed it at them. Rose looked at it nervously, but then turned back to the man. "It's alright. You're okay."

"No," the man said, looking horrified at everything happening around him. "I don't think I'll ever be okay again."

"Doctor," the woman began, addressing the old man, "Can you close the portal?"

"Might do," the Doctor answered cheerfully, "But you're pointing a gun at me."

"I think she meant me," the older-looking man offered, carefully standing up with Rose's help. He swayed a bit, shaky on his feet. The Doctor looked highly put out.

"I could do it, too," he muttered gruffly.

"I'm sure you could, Doctor," Rose placated.

The other doctor added, "Any help would be much appreciated- this portal really wasn't built to be operated by only one man."

The woman finally lowered her gun and nodded. "Fine. But I'm warning you. One wrong move-" She let her threat hang, but the Doctor didn't look bothered. "How do we shut this thing down, then?"

"There's a fail-safe system," the other-doctor said. "In Loki's scepter."

"Where's that then?" the Doctor asked.

"I think I'm looking at it," Rose offered, peering over the edge of the building. She could see Loki's staff on the floor below her. Rose was prepared to have to climb down a few flights of stairs to get to it, but the woman (who still hadn't introduced herself, Rose noted) beat her to it.

She ran in front of Rose and leapt easily from the the floor they were on to the one below. Grabbing the staff, she then used the windows to pull herself up. Rose ran over to help her climb, but the woman refused Rose's hand. She straightened and smirked at the Doctor.

"What's next?"

The other-doctor was already typing away at the computer, the Doctor looking over his shoulder, occasionally muttering a suggestion or pointing his screwdriver at something. When he heard the woman ask, he gestured to the bright beam of light coming from the machine.

"On my cue," he ordered, "You're going to put the staff into the beam, alright? Right at the crown."

The woman nodded and readied herself, struggling a bit with the weight of the staff. Rose, wanting to be useful, came up behind her and helped her lift the staff up. The woman shot her a look over her shoulder.

"We're on the same side here," Rose argued. The woman nodded curtly and turned back around. Rose said, "I'm Rose, by the way. What's your name?"

"Agent Romanoff," she said curtly. Before Rose could answer, Agent Romanoff was reaching up to her ear and touching it. Rose noticed that she was wearing some sort of ear-piece. Agent Romanoff spoke into it and said, "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!"

Rose didn't hear what was said on the other end, but she did hear the Doctor yell, "You're good to go!"

Rose was ready to push the scepter forward, but Agent Romanoff didn't move, although Rose did see something change in Agent Romanoff's face.

"What's happenin'?" Rose demanded. "Why aren't we going?"

"They're sending in a nuclear missile." She said, emotionless. "Stark is going to attempt to divert it."

"Into the portal?" The Doctor demanded. "He won't make it back."

"He knows," Agent Romanoff said. She looked back at Rose. "Be ready to push the spear in. Rogers is giving the signal."

Shooting in anxious glance at the Doctor, Rose got herself ready. Keeping an eye on the portal, Rose could only watch, horrified, as a man in a red suit (Tony Stark, Rose assumed) pushed a large missile up and into the portal. In front of her, Romanoff tensed, waiting for the signal.

"Come on, Stark," Agent Romanoff muttered. A few seconds later, though, with no sign from Stark, she yelled back to Rose, "Now!"

Rose and Agent Romanoff pushed forward on the scepter with all the strength they had in them, sending it slicing straight through the shield. For a moment, the beam shone stronger than before, before fizzling out suddenly. The staff was pushed backwards and, while Agent Romanoff managed to keep her footing, the sudden shift in weight startled Rose. She lost her balance and flew backwards, hitting her head hard on the concrete.

"Don't try to sit up!" The Doctor ordered, running over to her. Agent Romanoff was too busy barking questions into her earpiece. The Doctor knelt down next to her. "Are you alright?"

Later the Doctor would examine Rose and confirm she had a slight concussion, which is probably why she did what she did next, but she never regretted it.

She reached up and grabbed the lapels of the Doctor's jacket, pulling him in for a kiss. He almost fell on top of her, but braced himself on his arms just in time. Rose was just so glad that they were _alive. _For a second, he was just _still_ above her and Rose worried that she had broken him, ruined everything between them, earned herself a one-way ticket back to London.

Then he started kissing her back.

It was quite nice, actually, and they probably would have continued their newfound favorite activity if it wasn't for a voice calling their names from inside the tower.

"Rose? Doctor?"

_Jack._

Rose and the Doctor pulled apart. Rose took a deep breath and sat up carefully, the Doctor helping her. "We should-"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"But later we could-" Rose began, gesturing between the two of them. The Doctor looked quite pleased.

"Pick up where we left off?" He guessed.

This time it was Rose who said, "Yeah."

She was rewarded with one of the Doctor's daft grins. "Fantastic!"

Rose, the Doctor, and Agent Romanoff all headed back inside the penthouse, where it seemed as though all the other Avengers and Jack had gathered, standing guard over the man Rose had seen lying on the floor earlier. When she saw Jack there, too, she ran to him.

"Jack!" she said gleefully, thrilled that he was alright. She ran towards him and threw her arms around his neck, laughing as he picked her up and spun her around. When he set her down, she planted a quick, firm kiss on his lips (she had promised, after all), before she went back to hugging him tightly.

Unbeknownst to her, Jack was looking over her shoulder at the Doctor, who was staring at him with an annoyed look on his face. Jack would've bet his sonic blaster that it was because of Rose's kiss, but it's not as though it had been _Jack _that started it, so he just shrugged and went back to trying to squeeze the life out of Rose.

When he let go, he turned to the Doctor. "You two alright?"

"Just fine," the Doctor assured him.

"And you?" Rose asked, looking him over.

Jack shot her one of his best grins. "Never better, doll. Saved some lives, met some heroes. All in all, a good day."

"A good day?" came a voice from behind them, sounding rather upset. Rose looked over Jack's shoulder to see a man dressed in red, white, and blue spandex (Captain America, she guessed). He had turned away from the others, who continued to surround the man on the floor (now awake and not looking very happy). "Countless lives were lost today. _Including _one of our own. You call that a good day?"

That's when Rose remembered that Tony Stark had died. She bit her lip. Rose didn't know much about Stark, but she knew enough to know that he was some sort of genius, and what he did today- sacrificing himself- was just.

Rose looked at the Doctor. "Doctor?"

He knew what she was asking him and met her gaze squarely. For a moment, neither of them said anything, then he said, "You sure?"

Rose hedged, "If Reapers won't show up or nothin'-"

"The portal let out far enough away," the Doctor assured. He turned to the Avengers, who were once again occupied with their newfound prisoner. Satisfied that they weren't paying attention, the Doctor nodded, and he, Rose, and Jack slinked off back to the TARDIS.

Rose was just shutting the door firmly behind her as the Doctor dialed in some coordinates. She walked up behind him and watched over his shoulder. "Will you be able to find him?"

The Doctor scoffed. "With that arc-reactor on his chest? I could track him half-way across the universe, that thing emits a signal so big."

"Oh, and I supposed you could come up with a better design," Rose nodded sagely.

"In my sleep," the Doctor said proudly, chest puffed up. "Smaller, too, with more energy output, but little signal. That man needs to learn a thing or two about subtlety."

"We live in a bigger-on-the-inside spaceship that looks like a police public call box," Jack pointed out from the other side of the console. He was helping the Doctor dial in some coordinates. "You're hardly one to talk about subtlety."

"I don't go 'round _telling _people about it," the Doctor huffed.

"You told me," Jack argued.

"And me," Rose added. "And Mickey, and my mum, and Harriet Jones-"

"Alright," the Doctor snapped, clearly in a mood now that they had riled him up. "What is this? Gang up on the alien day?"

"It could be if you wanted," Jack said innocently.

"Watch it," the Doctor warned. He pulled a lever on the console and the TARDIS jerked, launching herself into the time vortex. "Right. According to SHIELD's records-"

"You can access those?" Rose asked, but it really was a stupid question. Of course the Doctor could.

"And a few calculations from myself, the nuclear missile is set to go off 3.5 seconds after Stark passes through the portal. If we get there right before then and open our doors, Stark will fall back into the TARDIS and we can get out before the blast hits."

"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed. He and Rose went over to the man the TARDIS doors, each gripping a handle and waiting for the Doctor's signal to open them. The TARDIS rattled and shook and it took everything Rose had to keep her balance.

Just when Rose thought that she couldn't hold on for much longer, the Doctor yelled, "Now!"

Rose and Jack pulled the doors open and Rose was greeted with a sight that would most likely haunt her for the rest of her life: space, but not space as she knew it. This was not blackness punctuated with the shiny glow of a million galaxies. Ships like none she had ever seen before floated before her- dozens of them.

And straight toward those ships was headed a missile.

And headed right for the TARDIS was Tony Stark.

He landed on the TARDIS with a crash, straight into the coral struts. Rose couldn't be sure, but if she hazarded a guess, his suit would be dented (even more so). The TARDIS was strong.

Remembering the Doctor's instructions, Rose quickly shut the door. As she did, she felt a brief rush of heat filter in through the cracks. The missile had gone off. The TARDIS, thanks to the Doctor's impressive driving (in a we're-all-going-to-die sort of way) was already back in the vortex.

Rose rushed over to Tony Stark and, with a grunt of effort managed to roll him over. His eyes were closed and that thing on his chest- Rose had some vague recollection of a newspaper article she had read about how it was keeping him alive- was turned off. She shook him as though he were simply asleep and she needed to wake him up.

It (obviously) had no effect.

"Doctor!" Rose called, but there was no need. The Doctor was already kneeling down next to her and Jack (_When did he get here?), _sonic screwdriver in hand.

"Is he dead?" Jack asked bluntly. Rose paled and the Doctor glared at him harshly for upsetting her.

"Don't think so," the Doctor assured, fiddling with his sonic. A pleased grin made his way onto his face when he found the right setting and he pointed it at the arc reactor. The low and familiar buzz of the sonic screwdriver filled her ears and, within seconds, the light on Tony Stark's chest flickered back to life.

The Doctor's pleased grin transformed into a smug one. "I told you so."

Rose, choosing to ignore him, worried, "Will he be okay?"

"As okay as somebody _can _be with a piece of metal trying to claw its way into his heart," the Doctor shrugged. Jack reached over and helped lean Stark and his suit against one of the struts, trying to make him more comfortable. Meanwhile, the Doctor stood up and walked over to the console. More to himself than anybody else, he muttered, "Right. Let's get Stark home, then."

The TARDIS, perhaps realizing that they were carrying somebody who was not in the best of shape, seemed to make sure that her ride was smoother than normal, and there were no mad jerks when they landed. Rose, who had stayed kneeling by Tony in case he woke up, stood up and stretched now.

"How do we get him out of here?"

"I get his legs, you get his head, Doc?" Jack offered. The Doctor scoffed.

"Try the other way around, Harkness. I don't trust you anywhere near his legs."

With a completely unashamed laugh, Jack walked over to Stark's head and reached down to pull him up from under his armpits. The Doctor grabbed Stark's legs and lifted him up. Rose figured that it was up to her to get the door.

She opened it and stepped outside. The other Avengers were all staring gobsmacked and didn't seem to have moved from their positions at all. Even the Hulk was still, well, the Hulk.

"How in the-" Captain America began and Agent Romanoff pulled her gun out and Hawkeye his arrows, but all three were stopped when the Doctor and Jack carried Tony out of the TARDIS, arc reactor glowing brightly as a testament to his living. They placed him down gently. The others rushed toward him, all except for Thor, who stood guard over the man on the floor and looked at the TARDIS curiously.

"How did you _do _that?" Captain America demanded.

"I have my ways," the Doctor said easily.

"Time Lord," Thor said suddenly. Everybody looked at him. The Doctor, in particular, was surprised.

"Pardon?"

"I recognize this device. When I was young, many years ago, a man came to visit Asguard in a blue box such as this. He was a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey. The Time Lords were a powerful race and old allies of the Asgardians. The name of this man's name was the Doctor."

"Hello!" the Doctor waved. Behind Thor, Agent Romanoff was gaping incredulously.

"The Gallifreyans perished in the Time War," Thor said solemnly. "I didn't realize any had survived. Least of all the man I remember from my childhood."

"Well, I did," the Doctor said curtly. The Time War was still a sensitive topic for him. "And I best be leaving. Anything else I can do for you lot?"

"You've done more than enough," Thor replied, speaking for all of the Avengers now. "You have our eternal gratitude."

"Right o', then" the Doctor said. Rose opened the door to the TARDIS and gave everybody as she stepped inside. Jack followed her. As the Doctor stepped through, he was called back.

"Will we ever see you again?" It was Agent Romanoff, of all people.

The Doctor shrugged. "Depends on how much trouble you get into. Now, if you'll 'scuse me, I promised Rose the 28th century."

The Doctor left the Avengers stunned.

Inside the console room, Jack groaned loudly. "I never got my Captain America lunchbox signed!"

"Maybe we'll see them again," Rose said, trying to make him feel better by rubbing his arm soothingly. He grumbled, but leaned into her touch. The Doctor glared as he entered in the coordinates and sent the TARDIS into the Vortex with a jerk.

As the TARDIS disappeared, for a moment, none of the Avengers outside said anything. Then, out of nowhere, Tony Stark let out a deep gasp and opened his eyes.

He blinked as he took everybody in. Tony cleared his throat.

"So, what'd I miss?"

* * *

**AN: Yay! A final chapter! I have no plans for a sequel, but I made sure to leave that possibility open if I ever change my mind. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this little story! Be sure to review!**

**Thanks!**

**tinyrose65**


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